Weaker than a Woman — page 200: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Sat WEAKER THAN A WOMAN. era very dull. But this year the party from Bramber Towers was a large one; several officers were visiting there. They at first voted the Hunt Ball a decided “bore,” but when — they saw Lady Chevenix they thought differently. She was worth coming many miles to see, they declared, and she was soon surrounded by a crowd of admirers. The rooms were beautifully decorated and filled witha brilliant crowd. Lady Chevenix looked for Felix first; she saw him, but he did not approach her. She observed that he chatted with the Countess of Arlington, and then with Lady Maude; she wondered if he would seek her. She kept her would-be partner in suspense. But Felix did not come ; he danced with Lady Maude. Violet could not help hearing what people said—‘t How well they look together ! Can it be possible that there is anything in it?” She could not help hearing it, and a pang of jealous pain seemed to rive in her heart. Surely that could never be? Felix marry Lady Maude! It was all nonsense—the gossip of foolish people who did not know what they were saying. She checked herself abruptly. What if it were so? What did it matter to her? Felix and herself were more than strangers. The greatest stranger in that room thought more of her and said more to her than Felix did. She was the queen of the night. Her wonderful beauty, her gor- geous dress, her costly jewels, made her the very center of observation. She had her triumph. The lover she had forsaken treated her with coldness, her husband kept her in a state of terrible suspense, but the crowd admired her. No one present would have believed that the beautiful, radiant woman had a weight, as of lead, at her heart. Her spirits rose as the night wore on. It was something to see all the men admiring her; to see them strive for one smile from her; to see how they surrounded her, how they struggled to be of service to her; how her smiles and bright words swayed them as the sweet western wind sways the leaves. That was her triumph, and, to one so vain, it was no small one. She saw that Lady Maude, with all her aristocratic influence, was not sought after and admired as she was. * Beauty rules the world,” she thought, and then added, with a smile and a sigh, “ Beauty and money combined, I mean.” Half the evening had passed, and she had exchanged no word with Felix. Presently chance brought them almost side by side in a quadrille. He bowed and spoke to her. she could not help the feeling of relief that came over her, - Eo Eomicbooks v